


Calculated Betting

by nonky



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 13:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17746355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: Prompt by stainofmylove at LJ: Ben/Leslie, Can we keep it secret for just a little while longer?





	Calculated Betting

They couldn't meet at the mural anymore. The second floor had made note of them too many times, and the eye contact was too heated to be two co-workers keeping company. The parks department knew him and definitely her. Ben spent his work day in knots of weird arousal; sitting next to her at meetings, getting 'Dream Team'ed by his boss, finding her signature on documents requesting extra port-a-potties.

It was weird, but a better weird than his months of not dating Leslie Knope.

Ann was thrilled, Ron was happy but following his usual policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and Don't Bother Me.' Leslie was meeting with her campaign advisers to give them some advance warning, but she had promised they weren't breaking up again for the sake of her campaign. Ben was pretty sure he'd make scenes hourly in her office if she even tried to push him away again. Maturity and prudence had not worked for them. He bought a Batman suit. He had a pretty severe Lifetime Movie addiction that did nothing good for his new sense of melodrama.

He was pretty sure they weren't about to be fired for an inappropriate relationship. He wasn't sure, but it was about 70-30 that they'd keep their jobs. Leslie worked miracles and he had proven himself to Chris and the town. He was pretty certain everything would turn out fine.

Ben let himself into the third floor file room and avoided the police tape outlining a crime scene. Leslie was perched on the desk with a cup of chamomile tea that didn't look to be calming her. Her eyes were glazed but moving wildly; as if she was reading the future in the swirls of papers thrown on the floor.

She wanted this victory. It wasn't fair to jeopardize it, even if she said it was her decision, too. They could sneak around. He was smart and she was motivated. They would just sneak around. It would be hot. He was the freaking Batman!

Ben stood in front of her and took the cup away. Leslie's mouth parted but all that came out was a sigh. He put their heads together and said, "You remember how we're the dream team? Well, I have had the best idea ever."

"Is it literally the best idea ever," she teased. "I won't settle for anything less."

Ben cupped her face and said, "It is literally the best idea ever. You and I are going to have a dirty, smutty, forbidden, verboten, fun, crazy, wild, but very well-managed office affair. Then you're going to leave me to be Queen of the Universe - that is what you're running for, isn't it?"

Her smile was the best. She clutched his wrists and waggled her body appreciatively. "It is the official title, yes."

"So you'll leave me to be Queen of the Universe, and the Parks department will never be able to find anybody else to do your job, but you and I can out our tawdry lusts to the public. I'll be your arm candy, smile pretty as you do all the talking to the constituents. You can use me for my body," he whispered.

"Mmm, good deal," Leslie cooed. "What do you get out of it?"

"I get to use you for your body," he said. Their mouths zeroed in magnetically and stuck together with sloppy passion. He was sweating through his shirt, and his hands were messing up her hair so badly. Ben was too light-headed to care.

"Oh, but what if we get caught and both of us are fired and I don't get any votes because I'm a horrible liar," she said.

Ben took her hands and pulled her to her feet. She looked up at him trustingly, and he knew all the answers clearly. He shook the tangles from her hair with his fingers.

"Then we'll both have to live with Andy and April," he said, grinning. "But we'll get through it. It's no greater risk later than now, and we'll be careful. Besides, you're not a real politician until there's been some kind of scandal."

He rubbed his cuff over her 'I am Leslie Knope' button, and sent her out ahead of him with another lingering kiss. His body hummed with the gravity of his feelings and the risks they were taking, but it wasn't life or death. There were other jobs, other towns, even other states if it came to that.

There was only one Leslie, and she made him feel like he was the only Ben. It was hardly a gamble believing in that.


End file.
